Sisters of the Flame Book 1 Convergence
by TheBiggerFish
Summary: There's also some Angst in this. JainaJag, four or five OC's, JacenTenel Ka. Epic NJO AU, Book 1 of a Trilogy. First time on fanfiction.net. No flamers please. - Next part up 29th November
1. Chapter 1 Part 1

** Title: Sisters of the Flame – Book 1 – Convergence**

**Author:** TheBiggerFish

** Disclaimer:** A long time ago, in a country in the opposite hemisphere to mine, a god among insects conceived the idea for Star Wars. All hail George Lucas, the almighty Bearded One. Resplendent in his flannel, he yet allows us mere mortals to play with his creation. *bows to the Bearded One* Many thanks. The Solo family, the Skywalkers and some other characters I will use are not mine. They belong to He Who Loves Flannel.

The Isis Family, Alexander Helios, Keir Braeden and Silver Liona are MY creations, however. Please do not use them unless you email me and ask permission.

There is a section in Chapter 7 of this Book (loooong way away from here, but hey) that has some sections from Traitor in it. Because Matt Stover worded some things so perfectly I couldn't even attempt to rewrite them. Everything else in this story is my original work unless otherwise specified (I sometimes use song lyrics. I'll let you know if they're not mine)

**Author's Note: **There are some long posts here. None of them are less than three pages long in word. 

This will vaguely fit the NJO timeline until Traitor, where it will be a drastic AU. I'm a fan of the "There Is No Dark Side" Force theory, which is the one I'll be using in here. If that bugs you, don't flame me about it. Just don't read it. I also introduce a new theory of the Force in here, but I don't want to spoil things. :)

This entire story is dedicated to my wonderful beta and the friends from school who I've used as sounding boards for ideas, even if they didn't know what the hell I was talking about. Mainly Catherine Garner, Eleanor Burton and Katherine Douglass. Many thanks to KK for help on the etiquette of fanfiction.net, of which I was ignorant.

Without further ado…

** Prologue**   
  
_It is five years since the Yuuzhan Vong have entered the galaxy. In those years of fire, many worlds, and heroes, have fallen. Yet out of the ashes of destruction rise a generation of new heroes. Tested by heat and refined in the flame of war. They are the ones who refused to be broken.   
  
This is the story of women of courage and strength. Women who will be at war and peace, who will love and hate, who will grow and live together.   
  
Women who will become Sisters of the Flame._   
  
**End Prologue**   
~*~*~*~*~*~   
**Chapter 1**   
  
**Ossus, 10 years before beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion**   
  
A storm ravaged the surface of the planet. Fierce winds uprooted trees and toppled houses, hail and sleet cut those unfortunate enough to be outside. The rain poured incessantly, cold and hard. Low-lying areas had already been flooded while creeks and rivers were overflowing. The wind howled and shrieked, lightning flashed and burnt the ground it struck while thunder exploded across the sky. Yet the noise of the storm seemed no match for the screams of the labouring women in the clean white room.   
  
Wave after wave of pain crashed into the two women as they clung to each others hands. The two had been friends forever, it seemed, though they were so different. One was a small and frail human, the other tall and strong, of a warm-blooded reptilian race native to the planet, the Jekra. The latter, Ssinaa, had fallen in love with a human and was bearing his child. The former, Evylyna, was that human's sister, and had welcomed her beloved friend into the family wholeheartedly. The pair was glad they were together now, as their children were being born. Sssinaa was bearing it better than her tiny friend, who was quickly weakening.   
  
The pair yelled and hissed in pain again as a contraction struck both of them simultaneously, Evylyna felt like she was being ripped in two, and she was bleeding a lot more than Ssinaa. The contractions seemed to always come together, lasted the same length and were of the same intensity. For some reason, these children wanted to come into the world together.

  
One, last, excruciating contraction ripped through the women's bodies and with a final, titanic _push_ the babies were born. The mothers fell back against the beds, still holding hands. Evylyna rolled her head wearily to look into Ssinaa's black, whiteless eyes. She was so tired, hurt, still bleeding, her pale skin was ashen and her gray eyes sunk into her face. Ssinaa was worried beyond belief about her trusted friend, and this worry was mixed with the happy satisfaction about the birth of her child.   
  
_She should not have had the child_ Ssinaa thought _She is not strong enough for another one. She may not be strong enough to survive this one._   
  
The babies blinked in the sudden light, bewildered for a moment. Then they both began to cry. The nurses wrapped them in blankets and dried them off. They approached the mothers and handed them their children. The girl went to Evylyna and the boy to Ssinaa. The girl looked normal enough, except for the mercurial silver colour of her eyes. A colour that seemed to slide and move around her pupils. She looked to have a delicate frame like Evylyna's, and her eyes were swept up at the corners, a trait of her father, Irin.   
  
The boy, however, was a half-breed, part human and part Jekra. He looked decidedly strange.   
  
He had lobeless ears that pressed close to his head, the tops of them lined with scales. He already had a thick head of hair.. _No. _Evylyna thought _Not hair, something...else_ His 'hair' was black and shimmering, it rustled and moved like it was blowing in the wind from the storm, yet there was no breeze in the room. His little eyes were like tiny pools of midnight, completely black, with no whites to them, like his mother. The thing that caught her attention though, was his nails. His tiny little fingernails were as black as his eyes and hair, and while she watched, they lengthened and sharpened. Ssinaa quickly held his hands away from her as drops of darkness fell from his fingers, hitting the sheets and burning through them. He had inherited the Jekra's trait of poisonous nails. Everything else would come from his father, and they imagined he would have the broad build of Daray, the strong hands of Daray, the height of Daray.   
  
The babies continued to wail, little arms flailing, until the girl's hand brushed against the boy's arm. The contact between small ones stopped their crying, the boy's nails stopped dripping poison and he reached up the touch the face of the baby girl next to him. The mother's looked up at each other and glowed with happiness and pride. 

  
The women were oblivious to what was happening in the tiny, but powerful, world of their children's minds.   
  
The Force was rushing through the babies, heating them, binding them together through the physical contact between their tiny bodies. After a time, their minds also began to bind, and then bleed into one another's head.   
  
The baby girl grinned a toothless smile while the boy blinked his obsidian eyes in surprise, they were in each other, they were each other, they were separate and inseparable at the same time. The babies didn't understand yet what had happened to them. They couldn't have known how extraordinary the immediate bonding of their hearts and minds was. They would not know for some time that their bond gave each of them strength in the Force that they would not have had otherwise. Their families only had a tiny amount of Force in their blood, and then it seemed to only show up in the males, so their mothers had not felt the blazing light of their children, how they seemed to only be one person in the Force, how their one entity was oozing strength and power.   
  
The bonding between the children was so complete and satisfying, that both newly-born children promptly fell asleep.   
  
The women looked at each other, eyes tearing and faces glowing. Evylyna drew a shaky breath and asked quietly 

  
"What is his name?" Ssinaa looked down at the tiny, crying boy in her arms and said   
  


"Keir Braeden." Evylyna smiled. The name meant 'Black Darkness'; it was a proud name for the reptilian race, a heroes name.   
  


"Then, I shall name mine Silver Liona." Ssinaa looked up at Evylyna, love shining in the pools of her eyes. Evylyna had named her daughter 'Silver Light'. In the legends of the planet, all the people with the names Silver Light and Black Darkness were bound together, friends, relatives and companions, inseparable throughout eternity.   
  
Evylyna leant back against the bed and shut her eyes.   
  


"This way you and I will always be together, through our children." She breathed  
  
Ssinaa sat up quickly, worry and fear in her posture.   
  
"Evylyna?"   
  
Evylyna remained still. Still and breathless, her hands fell away from Silver.   
  
"Nurse?" Ssinaa rasped "Give me Silver please."   
  
The nurse complied, tears in her eyes.   
  
Ssinaa cradled the girl on the crook of her arm and whispered to her   
  
"You will be my daughter. I will love you as I loved your mother. Do not worry little one. Do not worry. Do not cry" 


	2. Chapter 1 Part 2

Authors Note: Just to let you all know, I'm not going to put up the next section until I get some reviews. That's going to be the rule for the rest of the story. I'm not going to waste my time if no one is reading this.

_ Excerpt from the **Collection of Jekra Folktales - Guide to the belief system of the reptilian Ossans**_   
  
_There came, then, the Years of Plenty. In these Years of Plenty, The First of the Jekra emerged from the egg. The First of the Jekra looked and saw the Plenty, and The First's blood sang with hunger. Now The First of the Jekra was superior to its egg-mates, and though The First was smaller, The First possessed a nimble mind. The First used this mind to survive the fights between the egg-mates for possession of the single Female of the eggs. The First saw that the Female was also superior. And The First knew love for the first time - the emotion that distinguished the savage egg-mates from the First Couple. The First fought for the Female with more ferocity than The First had ever shown before. And the egg-mates were overwhelmed by the strength of the First Couple's love. The egg-mates of The First were destroyed.   
  
And the union of The First Couple made the land full of joy.   
  
The First Couple laid eggs in the Years of Plenty. And soon the nest of the Couple was full, full. Yea, The First Family was full of love, and The First Father taught The First egg-children to be as He had been, nimble of mind and quick of feet. The First Mother taught the First Children to love, as she had.   
  
So it was that the Years of Plenty were passed in joy and love by all the Jekra, who grew from the family of The First Couple.   
  
Then came the Months of Destruction. And The First Family had passed long before. The Jekra had never known the Months of Destruction before and they were nearly destroyed. They ran before the Floods from the Skies, ran until they found The __ Holy Mother Mountain. And the Mother Mountain opened her womb to the Jekra, welcoming the children of her world back to whence all life came.   
  
And the Floods from the Skies raged, raged.   
  
Then came the Days of Heat. The Holy Mother Mountain turned her children out into the deserts, made by the destruction of the Floods from the Skies. The Years of Plenty were no more. The Days of Heat ruled the land. Many more Jekra died in the Days of Heat, Jekra that were not worthy of the world of the Holy Mother Mountain. The Jekra who survived the Days of Heat returned to the Holy Mother Mountain as the Shower of the Mother began to replenish the desert after the Days of Heat. The Holy Mother Mountain welcomed the worthy children of her world back into her womb, to shelter them from the Gentle Floods.   
  
There came, then, the Years of Plenty. In these Years of Plenty, the Last of the First and the First of Jekra to come, emerged from the womb of the Holy Mother Mountain_   
  


** Ossus - 14 years before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion**   
  
"The Days of Heat are a testing ground - the way the Holy Mother Mountain purifies her world. The humans that came during the Years of Plenty have been found wanting, the Jekra who had changed their way of life for the humans have been found wanting. There is only a small number of Jekra left on the Holy Mother Mountain's world now, and those Jekra that are left must obey the teachings of the survivors from The First Days of Heat. We must make sure that a severe purging of our race is not needed again, that the Holy Mother Mountain - in her infinite love and wisdom..."   
  
Ssinaa turned her head from the Kedem of her tribe and stood to check on Keir and Silver. The Kedem every so often had the urge to preach to his tribe. Custom stated that The Kedem choose where they stopped for the cold, desert night. Thus, if The Kedem stopped, the tribe also stopped for the rest of the day. It would often happen that the tribe would not move once during the course of a week to satisfy The Kedem's need to hear his own voice preaching about The Holy Mother Mountain. This was one such occurrence.   
  
Of course, it wasn't all that bad; the place The Kedem had chosen had a large rock that provided shade for the whole tribe. The Kedem didn't know that the rock had a small cave on the hot side of it, nor did he know that that was where Ssinaa went so often. Nor did he know that the children he banished from the tribe lived there. The Kedem assumed that Ssinaa went to lie in the sun, offering her life to the Holy Mother Mountain as penance for her sin - the sin of loving a non-Jekra, the sin of bearing a non-Jekra's child, the sin of not killing that child as soon as it was out of her womb. Ssinaa growled and hissed, fighting to keep the venom inside her body, not to let it spill out of her fingers and onto that fool of a Kedem. No one of the tribe really liked him, so if he were to turn up dead one morning, no one would really care. But she could not kill him, not now.   
  
Silver was sick, and if The Kedem died, the tribe would move on and Silver would die.   
  
So Ssinaa balled her dangerous hands into fists and let him live. For now.   
  
As soon as she left the dark side of the rock, Ssinaa had to lower her clear eyelids over her eyes to stop the sand from blinding her. Her scales extended to cover the parts of her body laid bare in the shade and the clawed talons of her feet spread out to stop her from sinking into the hot sand. Ssinaa moved slowly to the cave where Silver lay, bringing with her what food the tribe could spare.   
  
The Kedem was really the reason there was all this trouble about sin and purging. The tribe did not believe Silver and Keir were evil; in fact, they enjoyed having the pair around. It seemed that whenever Silver and Keir were with the tribe, the sand-serpent of the Days of Heat, the Nyokan, could not take them by surprise. The Nyokan claimed large numbers of Jekra from other tribes, but Silver and Keir always seemed to know when one was approaching, leaving time for the tribe to prepare. Because of this, the tribe had the least of losses compared to all the other tribes of the Jekra. Ssinaa had explained to the tribe about Silver, and so it was decided that The Kedem would not be killed until Silver was feeling better.   
  
Still, it would make Ssinaa feel better if she could see The Kedem burning from her venom.   
  


Silver and Keir were on the floor of the cave as Ssinaa entered the coolness. The pair was oblivious to her presence for the moment, so she stood silently to look at them.   
  
The children were only five, but already their bodies were showing signs of what they would be in adulthood. Keir's hands were already broad and strong, looking out of proportion to the rest of his lanky body. Feathery lines of scales ran along the bones of his hands and the backs of his fingers, the same on his feet. He had broad swathes of scales on his shoulder blades, and lines of them spread out from his temples, ending at the corners of his eyes and mouth. His scales were becoming the deepest black as he grew, changing from the silver they were as a baby. Keir was already much taller than he should have been at the age of five, and Ssinaa felt swells of pride when she saw the glimpses of his coming strength and flashes of danger in his eyes. His proud name was shaping him already, making him confident and subtly powerful.   
  
Silver, on the other hand, was still small and delicate in appearance, but Ssinaa knew that one could not live in the Days of Heat and stay delicate. Silver's skin was alabaster white, smooth and perfect. The sun of the desert should have blistered and burned her skin, but for some reason it never had. Silver carried with her an air of cool and control that passed beyond a girl of five. Some of the tribe laughed at her manner and seriousness, but most of them saw the quiet strength and confidence it indicated, and respected Silver for the woman she would obviously become. Her hair was long and the purest of whites, with subtle highlights of light blue and glittering streaks of silver. Most of the time, Silver kept the majority of it out of her face by pulling back strands at her temples and braiding them together at the back of her head. Her thick hair flowed out behind her wherever she went, and it never seemed to get tangled. Amidst this delicate and soft beauty of her face and hair, her eyes were her most striking feature. The iris's of her eyes were metallic silver that moved and swirled sluggishly around her pupils. But when she was warned of a Nyokan approaching, her eyes turned sharp and hard, the silver fixed and icy. When she was angered - which wasn't often - the sluggish movement would snap and flicker, then speed about her eyes, cracking like a whip, the colour of the silver sharpening as if it were metal on a grindstone.   
  
Separate, the children were marvels, incredible individuals. Together, the pair was even more amazing.   
  
Keir would watch over Silver with an almost paternal protectiveness flickering in the midnight pools of his eyes. Silver would care for Keir's wounds with an almost maternal care, her eyes softening and glowing as she helped him heal. They never left each other's side for long, not if they could possibly help it, as if they were an old couple who had been together so long they could not bear to be apart. They laughed at each other as if they were the best friends in the entire universe. They anticipated each other's actions and words as if they were twins, too alike to be told apart. Ssinaa had long given up trying to understand their complex relationship, waiting, instead, as the two children explored it for themselves, eagerly waiting to see what they would figure out, how they would end up in relation to each other.   
  
Presently, Silver's tiny form was curled up against Keir's long body. Her head was resting on his chest and her arms were wrapped around his stomach. Keir had one arm around her back, holding her as close as he could, with his other hand running through her silken hair. His eyes were wide open and his view was filled with the sleeping girl.   
  
Ssinaa was reluctant to disturb the pair, and was about to back out of the cave when Silver whispered half a word to Keir, who relayed it to Ssinaa.   
  
"She wants you to stay, Ummi."   
  
Ummi was what Keir and Silver called her, it was the most tender form of 'mother' in the language of the Jekra. Everytime she heard one of them say it, Ssinaa could not help but smile with bitter happiness. Why could Evylyna not have survived to feel so loved?   
  
Ssinaa pushed the thought of her friend from her mind and went to her children.   
  
"I brought Silver some more medicine."   
  
Silver whispered to Keir. Ummi came closer and tried to give her some medicine. But she could not bear to have any more of the vile, chewy weed. Every time she had some, she seemed to get worse. But Ummi believed it would work and kept trying to give it to her. Ummi would tell Keir to give her the medicine, then leave, but Keir would hide it in the corner of the cave instead, knowing how much she hated the stuff.   
  
Today was no different. Ummi sighed and stroked the girl's hair, handed the medicine to Keir and left. Keir hid the medicine and returned to Silver. This time she put her head on his lap as he smoothed her hair away from her face. He was worried about her; it was coming through their mind link, loud and strong. She sent reassurance at him through their link, trying to ease his concern for her. He smiled for a moment, allowing their minds to embrace warmly.   
  
Then it came again, the wave of pure, unadulterated power that sent Silver's mind spiralling into a whirlpool of light. Her body stiffened as she fought the wave, struggling to stay on top of the whirlpool, holding onto Keir's mind so tightly that she nearly pulled him in with her. The power subsided and Silver let out an explosive breath as all her muscles relaxed. Her body was sweating rivers of water and salt - precious resources not to be lost in the desert - her hair was wet and under her closed eyelids her eyes raced. Keir laid her down gently and ran to get water for her to drink. The last wave of power had been stronger than all the others and had left her weaker than ever before. His worry renewed itself and became sharper. She couldn't afford to lose that much water, not now, not ever.   
  
_KEIR!!! _  
  
Silver cried out to him with her mind, and he spun around in time to see her stiffen again. The wave had returned! She was too weak now and couldn't fight her way to the top. She would be lost into the whirlpool!   
  
_SILVER! _  
  
Keir desperately reached out to her, trying to drag her back to the top, but she was already too far down, she had been swept away by the power, and he could not bring her back. 


	3. Chapter 1 Part 3

Thanks for all the reviews! I don't know about other authors, but I thrive on feedback. :DI first posted this on theforce.net, so if the chapter sizes are too small, please let me know and I can make them bigger. Each chapter is usually no shorter than 15 A4 pages, only a few are shorter than that. Let me know how you want me to post them. I'll just keep posting them in 4 page chunks. :)

Chapter 1 Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Vergere crowed in triumph - the girl was caught! After days of throwing the Force at Silver Liona, the girl had finally succumbed in utter weakness. She was trapped in the Force until Vergere set her free. And Keir Braeden? He would never leave her, that much Vergere knew. She had both children within her grasp now, her plans were coming together perfectly, just as she had foreseen.   
  
Vergere glanced over her shoulder, to the Yuuzhan Vong standing behind her, waiting for her commands.   
  
"The Gods favor us this day," she whispered softly. "Send the strike team down to the surface. But DO NOT harm the children."   
  


The Yuuzhan Vong bowed gracefully and left her, barking commands even before the portal to the ships' central corridor had fully closed behind him.   
  
Vergere's eyes glittered as the wall of blaze bugs lit up, showing her the rock where her greatest triumphs hid.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
There was nothing but the blinding light. Nothing but the burning power. Nothing but this _FORCE _flowing through her in a rushing torrent that set Silver's head reeling.   
When she reached the bottom of the whirlpool, she found a quick flowing river that penetrated her tiny body easily.   
  
She had resisted for a few moments, but the power had rebuked her gently, disembodied voices floating to her through the river.   
  
_Stretch out with your feelings   
Let go   
...strength _flows_ from the Force _  
  
So Silver had obeyed the strange but soothing voices, relaxed her mind, her soul and her body. And the Force raced in her blood, calming her nerves and exciting her mind with possibilities.   
  
She gingerly opened her eyes, and found herself floating in a calm sea of power, a sea of power that had others in it.   
  
There was a small, green alien with the look of calm power in his eyes and a short, blonde, innocent looking boy, who carried the weight of worlds on his face and had eyes that were aged beyond his body. She also saw a tall, dark skinned man with dangerous features and no hair. There was a gentle man with long, brown-grey hair and a beard. He stood near a man with short, honey brown hair and a similar beard.   
  
There were many, many, many more in this sea of power and peace. Silver recognized none of them, but all of them radiated a calm that was inhuman, it seemed. They were dressed in flowing robes that gave them all an air of regal control and power. They reminded her of the Old Jedi Ummi had told her about in her sweeping bedtime stories of the worlds beyond Ossus.   
  
Her metallic eyes swirled in confusion, until the gentle man approached and reached out for her. She saw in him such tenderness that she was not afraid and without thinking, she floated to him in the sea of peace and clung to him. The gentle man enfolded her in his arms, whispering words that made no sense to her five year old mind. The man pulled back and looked into her eyes. She stared back at him and saw the depthless quality of his eyes. He smiled a little, and then laid a hand over her eyes. When he took them away, the sea of peace was gone, and he stood behind her, eyes closed, a strong hand on her shoulder.   
  
_Look _he said to her.   
  
Silver looked.   
  
Space spun away from their feet, black and littered with sparkling points of light. Silver turned in awe at the vastness of it, her young mind not comprehending anything this large.   
  
_Look_ came the gentle command again.   
  
Silver followed the path of the gentle man's finger and saw a flame, burning brighter than any other part of space. Silver could not make it out very well and absently pulled the gentle man along with her through space, floating closer to the flame.   
  
The flame flickered and danced with diseased colors of green and yellow, burning stars and planets that came too close to its sickly beauty. The flame twisted into grotesque features of hideous faces, tattooed and warped into shapes that were unnatural and unnerving to her. Silver backed up until she hit the gentle man's legs, and then reached out to hug them, too frightened to look away from the flame of twisted beings.   
  
The gentle man pointed again, in the direction of space that was the centre of the entire galaxy   
  
Silver looked.   
  
Two pieces of square fabric came floating on the winds of space towards the flame. The front piece of the fabric was colored a rich, brandy brown with threads of fiery red. A stubborn looking burgundy laced the fabric and it was rimmed with a sharp looking green. The fabric looked incomplete somehow, as if part of it had been ripped or cut away. The back piece of the fabric was black with a streak of shocking white and it had ragged holes in it as well. The gaps in the front piece of the fabric were filled as the back piece moved closer to it, and the holes in the back piece of the fabric were filled by the front piece. The pieces fit together, completing each other. The fabric reached the flame and began to circle it slowly, cutting parts of the flame with its green edge and white streak.   
  
The gentle man pointed yet again, in the direction of space that no one knew.   
  
Silver looked.   
  
Another two pieces of square fabric came floating on the winds of space towards the flame. The front piece was covered with feathers so black that they blended into the darkness of space. Silver would not have seen it if the tips of the feathers were not colored a fierce violet that seemed to burn as flames of their own. The back piece was colored a deep, rich red and was made up of thick, curly hair. Curls of red reached around to the front piece of fabric, and seemed to be all that was keeping the feathers together in some places, but seemed to be almost encouraging feathers to fall off in others. The feathers were razor sharp and edged with blades that cut at the licking tongues of the fire. The curls of red were pulling the feathers closer to it, and lashed out at the flames as well, choking them as it circled the flames and _squeezed._   
  
The gentle man pointed one final time, in the direction of space that was the rim of it all.   
  
Silver looked.   
  
A third, single, piece of fabric came floating on the winds of space towards the flame. The front of it was mercurial silver that sluggishly swirled and flickered in the reflected light of the diseased flame. The back of it was covered in black scales that moved forward and enveloped the silver when a flame dared come close to it. The scales dripped venom onto the flames as the silver extended itself to smother the fire as best it could.   
  
The pieces of fabric stopped and moved closer to the fire, until the edges of the cloths touched and they had formed a pyramid around the flame.   
  
The heat of the fire began to burn the edges of the fabric.   
  
And the cloths moved closer.   
  
The flame intensified its heat.   
  
And the cloths moved closer.   
  
The flame focused on the places where the fabric touched, trying to burn away the links, succeeding in only melting the edges of the fabrics together.   
  
And the cloths moved closer.   
  
The flame became frantic, lashing out with all its strength.   
  
And the cloths moved closer.   
  
The flame was growing smaller, shrinking before the inexorable advance of the fabric.   
  
And the cloths began to melt.   
  
The flame grew exultant, believing the fabrics to be weakening, and renewed its attack.   
  
And the cloths became one, blending into each other.   
  
The flame was afraid.   
  
And the cloth moved closer.   
  
The gentle man put a hand on Silver's shoulder, and the fabric and the flame disappeared.   
  
The sea of peace returned.   
  
The gentle man backed away from silver as the small boy moved towards her. His aged blue eyes bored into hers as he spoke   
  


_ You must never tell anyone that you can reach this place. Do you understand?_  
  
Silver shook her head   
  
_We are dead. You are alive. Your appearance here was thought to be impossible. It must stay that way. Do you understand?_  
  
She nodded, and opened her mouth, thinking she wanted to know about the vision of the flame   
  
_The meaning of the vision is something you will have to work out for yourself, mostly. The fabric you saw represent some people you will know later in your life. The flame is a war that will come to the galaxy soon. You and your friends must fight with all you have against this war._ _We cannot tell you anything else for now, but know that you can come back to this place if you ever need to. But you MUST NOT tell anyone else of it._   
  
The gentle man came up to her and laid his hands on her eyes again, and Silver slept, no longer aware of the sea of peace, the river of power, the whirlpool of light. Awareness of anything but her self ceased, and Silver's mind rested as her body relaxed and her soul was eased. 


End file.
